What Our Businesses Can Learn From Justin Bieber!

The following blog contains some slightly tongue in cheek analysis of that dreamy Canadian pop icon, and a valuable offer for $200 off our services, so read on.

As a specialist in online marketing, and a professional web designer, I’ve been watching the explosion of Justin Bieber on the international stage with mixed feelings. While I find his music irritating and his commentary on social issues shallow, I can’t help but recognize his influence and success. I know I’m not the only one- The Observer newspaper in the UK has stated that they believe he is more influential in social media channels then either Barak Obama and the Dalia Lama. Most of us would love to have the kind of following that he has, especially considering that following is a demographic that is more then willing to spend money on his products.

Based on those feelings, I studied the ‘Biebs’ and his message of teen pop love to discover elements that might help us all to achieve our own success. To tell you the truth, I might have just become a ‘Belieber’ myself (actually, not at all. Not in one tiny bit). Here they are:

1. Don’t be afraid to let other people see what you do: The ‘Biebs’ career started off of his Youtube channel. He wasn’t a great singer, or a great songwriter, or a great guitarist. Just a teenager singing on Youtube. That’s how he was discovered and that is how he made his first intro to the world.

For those of us running small businesses, this means we can’t hesitate to self promote. Testimonials from previous clients, portfolios of our work, case studies, photo galleries, videos, and asking for referrals need to be a pat of how we operate. I’ve never seen a study that says a business owner should avoid compiling or asking for these types of references. There is nothing more reassuring to a potential client then knowing that you understand and have helped others in a similar situation to them.

As such, Coalition Technologies is offering $200 off any of our services to existing clients who refer someone to us that sign on for one of our many offerings. We’ll take $200 right off your bill for Website Design, Application Development, SEO, PPC efforts, or Social Media Marketing, just for allowing us the opportunity to help someone you know. And if you have 3 different referrals sign up for our services, we’ll take $600 off your bill. 10 different referrals sign up? You guessed it- $2,000 off your services (or a credit towards future services). If you’re a business partner or associate of ours who doesn’t have current billing with us, you can give that credit to the person you referred! We will only be offering this on a limited time basis. On April 30th, this offering will no longer be valid.

2. Remember that we are nothing without our clients: No amount of criticism, mocking, or ‘advice’ should cause you to ignore the people who are the source of your success. Bieber understands that- he’s been made fun of on every major late night show, Comedy tour, message board, 4chan forum, and in high schools across the country. Is ‘Baby, Baby, Baby’ a slightly creepy song to be song by a 13 year old? Sure. Do the lyrics make sense for someone who can’t drive and has his mother as a manager? No. Will he have a career after his voice changes? I don’t know. But irregardless, the Biebster keep right on writing and beebopping into the hearts of America’s junior high school girls.

It doesn’t matter what your competition thinks of you, what your critics say about you, or what a review might say. You just need to be focused on your clients. Give them the best quality of service for a great price, and you’ve created a value that can’t be taken away. They’ll keep coming back time and time again, and you won’t need to worry about an outsider’s perception of you or your business.So be client/customer focused.

3. Change when it benefits your client, not when it benefits you: Justin Bieber cut his long, wavy locks, the source of so many gleeful giggles and swooning preteens. He lost something like 80,000 followers on Twitter for doing it to. His daily ‘new followers’ in social media fell from 34,000 a day, to 8,000 a day on average. That stings!

Obviously, hair grows back, but business doesn’t always. Especially if you made a decision that was focused solely on what was best for you, and ignored the needs of your clients. If you are weighing a major change in services or a different focus for your company, make sure its in the best interest of those who you really work for. At Coalition, our clients are our bosses, and we only make moves when we know that the end result is going to benefit them. If you follow our blogs, or social media channels, you’ll know that we are constantly looking towards the future of the web, and how it will affect you. We’re building sites that are mobile ready (mobile devices are the fastest growing segment of the web population), that are search friendly, and are carefully watching as Google and other search engines evolve their products (we were one of the first to break the news about Google’s +1 services and functionality).

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this insight, and apply these lessons to your lives. Please be watching for our book, “7 Steps to a Bieber-ific Life”, due out on April 1st of 2012. If you didn’t really like this post, please don’t hesitate to let us know! But don’t forget about the offer for $200.00 off our services for your referral. Thank you for your business, your confidence, your referrals, and as always, some restrictions may apply. If you do intend to send a referral our way, please notify us in advance, by email (jordan@coalitiontechnologies.com) or by Twitter (@CoalitionTech) ;-D.